Legislature approves school reforms

Robert Salladay, EXAMINER CAPITOL BUREAU

Published 4:00 am, Friday, February 26, 1999

1999-02-26 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- SACRAMENTO - A month before its deadline, the Legislature is moving quickly to approve Gov. Davis' highly touted school reforms - but not before significantly changing the governor's plans on how teachers are disciplined, schools are rewarded and students are tested.

On Thursday, the Assembly approved the least controversial of Davis' school reforms, a measure to spend $94 million on intensive reading academies for students in kindergarten through third grade and to bolster training for reading teachers.

Republicans overwhelmingly sided with Democrats on the measure, but not before complaining about a section of the bill that would spend $4 million on an advertising campaign encouraging people to read. Numerous programs already spell out the obvious, they said - that reading is important.

"There are many programs directed in this way," said Assemblyman Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, "and it's regrettable that the good in this bill also contains something that is such a deplorable waste of public funds."

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After the reading measure was approved, Republicans went on a more concerted attack, unsuccessfully offering nine amendments to Davis' new "peer review" system. The new system is designed to have experienced teachers monitor and report on poor-performing teachers.

Republicans dislike Davis' plan to dismantle a teacher mentoring program started under former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson. And they offered examples of where peer review in other cities and states has failed. One lawmaker wanted $1,000 cash bonuses for teachers who significantly improve classroom performance.

Democrats shot down every amendment even before they could be debated. Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, who carried the measure for Davis, said the bill - as written - would give school districts flexibility to build their own peer review programs, with state guidelines.

"Everything points to such programs having a positive impact on the enhancement of teaching quality and retention of teachers," Villaraigosa said.

But Assembly Republican leader Rod Pacheco of Riverside said Davis' plan is badly flawed because it relies too much on the opinions of other teachers, and not student test scores.

"Why don't we base it on objective data, on testing," Pacheco asked, "so that we can determine if our teachers are meeting their objectives? . . . The fact of the matter is some of them just don't cut it."

Davis, who called a special session of the Legislature to approve his education reforms, says he wants the four-bill package approved by the end of March.

Two other Davis' proposals - a public school ranking system and a mandatory high school exit exam - were significantly amended in the Senate this week, and are expected to be considered Monday after lawmakers review the changes over the weekend.

The 2004 graduation class would be the first required to pass the graduation test in math and language skills. Davis agreed to move the start date back a year to give students now in school more time to prepare and so that newly written academic standards can be fully in place.

Another change allows students to start taking the test as early as ninth grade. They can take different versions of the test as many times as they want, until they pass. Students would still have to pass all their regular classes; the exit exam would be considered another requirement to graduate.

Some lawmakers worry that too many immigrant students with poor English skills will fail the test, which would undoubtedly prompt legal challenges from civil rights groups. Others worry about what will happen to students who repeatedly fail the test.

"It's almost a leap of faith to vote for this," said Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Commerce. "If a child fails, we have to make sure we have an appropriate safety net."

The school ranking system is billed as a way to make schools more accountable by putting them on notice, helping them improve, and rewarding them with money if they do.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, with the consent of Davis, changed the program so schools would be ranked on a statewide scale based on the number of poor students and those who have limited-English speaking skills. Schools with similar make-ups would be compared, but a Compton school, for example, would not be compared with a school in Atherton.

Originally, Davis' bill would have randomly picked 200 schools from the bottom 50 percent in performance. With the amendments, approximately 430 low-performing schools could volunteer or be selected for the improvement program. The state has about 8,000 schools, with huge disparities in test scores and facilities between the worst and the best.

"If you are, right out of the chute, going to be expecting the same kind of achievement from the lowest performing schools in the state as the best performing schools, we just don't think that's a fair measure," said Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist with the California School Boards Association, which supported the changes.

As amended, the plan would provide $192 million to be divided equally among programs to help improve low-performing schools and reward schools that improve over time. Davis originally had proposed putting much more of the pot of money into the rewards program.&lt;